<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Occasionally Coherent]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://blog.bimajority.org]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Garrett Wollman]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://blog.bimajority.org/author/garrettwollman/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[Reflections]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>Sitting here after spending another late morning abed with a book, I came to think for a moment: those authors whose books meant so much to me when I was growing up, they are as much older than me now as they were then &#8212; and I&#8217;m now in my middle age.  Some of them have left us altogether; indeed some of them were no longer living even when I first learned to read.  For those who do remain, there is some limit, unknowable but finite, to the work they can yet create to move, inspire, and change us all.  I am thankful for them, and for the next generation, and the next one after that, just now rising into their talents.</p>
<p>And yet, even the most heartwarming new tale often leaves me aching. <em>Why can&#8217;t I have even a tiny bit of that?</em> I ask myself.  Am I so undesirable a person, that no one should ever take even the slightest interest?  It is the question, the hurt, that has defined my entire adult life.  Perhaps some day, I&#8217;ll have an answer.  Until then, I&#8217;ll keep on living the only way I know how &#8212; and keep on reading.  And crying.</p>
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